doh!

When I looked at this treasury this morning, I knew it would hit the front page, but did I go in and change my quantity since I have more of these flourishes? no. DOH! I got up from my leisurely Sunday afternoon nap, and looked at the FP, and I'm thinking how familiar it looks, but my item is not there. From the comments it looks like it was there for about 5 minutes before it sold. oh well, I hope it was pretty for a minute or two.

I've really been in a white and blue mood lately. I normally tend toward tea stained lace, but I've got all this white lace and was looking through my many tiny drawers, and happened upon these flourishes I've been wanting to use for a long time. It was the perfect storm when I found the blue paper to photograph it on.

something old, something blue

mmmmm.... I love old things and I love aqua things. I've been pairing these small vintage skeleton keys with hand linked beads for awhile now, and I just got a bunch of new lovely beads to try this with. I think I'm going to do a you-tube video showing how to do this type of simple linking, and I want to do one with the more complicated wire wrapping also. When I was trying to learn how to do this a long time ago, I had a hard time finding resources, so I'm really excited about doing you tube tutorials. They are addictive to watch and I'm hoping addictive to make!

tis the season

I never get tired of pictures of vintage children:

...or sparkly rhinestones for that matter :)
here's another ornament to get you into the christmas spirit:

get yours here today!

leap!

I've been wanting to try shirring for a long time, and I don't really know what took me so long. It is so easy! I read somewhere a long time ago how to do it, and just had never tried it. I'll take some pics of the steps and do a tutorial soon, in case you've never tried it. I am always thinking of ways to make clothing that will fit many different bodies (oh, the joys of online selling), so anything with elastic that's adjustable helps me to reach that goal.
This dress style will fit about size 8 up to a size 12. Now I just need to go through and draft patterns for a small (4-6) and a large (14-16). Usually I'm lazy and wait until someone orders a different size before I go to the trouble of making other sizes. I used to be a 12, and now am about a 10, thanks to all my sickness lately.
I've had this white seersucker type fabric for about a year, and finally found the perfect project for it. It has little silver metallic threads that give it a really special quality:

leonard nimoy, paul stanley, tim burton, and frida kahlo

I spent most of the week making halloween costumes for other people. My hubby was spock, my daughter and her friend need handpainted tshirts with the KISS logo on them, and another of her friends needed a Betty Rubble flintstone blue dress. (sorry no picture)
So, I didn't have any ideas for myself. I haven't dressed up too often over the last few years, but my husbands band was playing on halloween night, so I figured I had an excuse.
So at the last minute after finishing everyones makeup and hair, I thought about Sally from Nightmare before Christmas. I've wanted to do this costume for several years, but never got around to it. I love the idea of 'stitching' yourself together. So with about an hour or so left before we had to leave, I whipped up a patchwork dress, checked the internet for images of Sally, watched a couple of you tube videos of someone applying Sally rag doll makeup, and proceeded to get ready.
This is why I would love to be on project runway someday, because I like the pressure of sewing/designing really fast.
Start to finish here are my times:
Betty Rubble dress: 30 minutes
2 KISS stencils: 1 hour
Handsewn patches over a dress I own: 1 hour (I didn't get a full length shot, but I'll take some on madame coco and post later)
Spock costume, wig, ears and makeup: 2 hours
The spock costume was the most time consuming, and I had to actually BUY things. Gold rick rack, a girls pixie wig that I had to cut to look like what it was supposed to, and my hubby already owned a blue shirt.
(Prepare yourself, it's kind of scary looking) {Drummer Conrad from Cordial Spew on the left}

He was so excited to live out his life-long dream of having a star trek costume. He made the tri-corder thingy and the phaser gun himself.
Also, a most awesome idea that I may have to 'borrow' someday, Conrad's girlfriend went as Frida Kahlo! Totally brilliant. I forgot to take my camera to the show, but she was lovely. Hey, I'm an art teacher, what can I say?

green

there's something about green. It goes with everything, seriously. I once had a pair of dark green flats, with a slightly pointy toe, that went with everything I owned. It sounds weird, but it's true.
This polka dot fabric is one of my favorites, and of course, very hard to find. I have a secret supplier, but it took a lot of research and digging.
Still deciding what crafty direction I want to go in... I always love making clothes, but that's hard to do online, since everyone's body is different. I would like to do something on a small scale, like toys, or needlebooks, housewares. Something that has variations, though. I don't like to do the exact same thing over and over again.
Also, my friend Kelly taught me how to knit last year, and I know the very basics, but I've been looking for a knitting group I could join to sort of hone my skills. Kelly is a knitter extraordinaire, but with a 3 year old in tow, it's hard for her to be a knitting teacher also! I found this really comprehensive list on another local blog, so I'm going to check some of them out:
culled from various sources...
this is my list of Omaha area knitting groups located in public areas.

Mondays:
The Blair Stitch Project
Washington County Extension Office
1718 Washington Street
Blair, Nebraska
Beginner knitters and crocheters start at 5:30-7:00
Advanced and beyond meet from 7:00-8:30

Tuesdays:
Sit n Knit
String of Purls
Countryside Village
8721 Shamrock Road
Omaha, Nebraska
10am-12noon

Tuesdays:
Hooks & Needles
Mangelsen's
Westgate Plaza
3457 South 84th St
Omaha, Nebraska 68124
6:30pm-8:30pm

SECOND Tuesdays:
Knit Night
Borders Bookstore Cafe
Shadow Lakes Towne Center
7775 Olson Drive
Papillion, NE 68046
7pm-9pm SECOND Tuesday every month

FOURTH Tuesdays:
Plattsmouth Purls
Plattsmouth Public Library
401 Avenue A
Plattsmouth, NE, 68048
6pm-8pm FOURTH Tuesday every month
Kids welcome

Wednesdays:
Whole Foods & Fibers
Whole Foods Cafe
10020 Regency Circle
Omaha, NE
6-8 pm

Thursdays:
Sit n Knit
String of Purls
Countryside Village
8721 Shamrock Road
Omaha, Nebraska
3pm-8pm

Saturdays:
NE Knit & Crochet Guild
W Dale Clark Library
215 South 15 Street
Omaha NE
10:00am - 2:00pm

thanks jeepchick!
Hopefully I can attend some of these, because I really want to be better at knitting (I want to learn to knit in the round)

a new season

"free"
Lately I've been toying with the idea of totally revamping my life. Being sick for almost 6 weeks kind of forced me to realize that I don't have to work and create constantly. Things will be taken care of and the bills will get paid, even if I'm not a one-woman slave shop. Weird, because I really didn't know I needed a break until I took one.
I really appreciate feeling good right now, because for so long some body part was hurting. It was strange how every day or so there was a new symptom, and just as the old ones got better, the new ones perplexed me.
So, I am now taking some contemplative time to decide what it is I want to do. Make stuff, of course. But what?
I want people to look at the things I've made, and have that sense that a lot of time and thought and creativity went into this. I want them to be swept away by the adorable-ness of it all. I want to be able to have a voice that runs through everything that I do, and not list and relist stuff and make and remake stuff just to make money.
There has to be a better way. I want to actually enjoy what I make, and usually that doesn't happen if I make more than 2 or 3. Sometimes only one.
So I now commit to myself to try and find a new path, where I reach back into my childhood imagination and believe that anything is possible, and remember all the small but very important things that I loved.
Small things, scraps, buttons, thread, old things, aqua things, ribbon, patterns, dolls, fabric, paper, photography. I will add to this list of things I'm intrigued by to get my mind rolling a little more.
Do yourself a favor today. Slow down, take a breath. Make a list of things that make you happy. Sometimes it's a little scary when we don't even know or remember these things.
Sometimes we just need to turn over a new leaf, and be excited about a new direction.
Who knows, maybe I'll start a whole new line of something, or open a new shop. ??? Ok, two shops is enough for now, but I do need to get more bloomers finished in different colors, and get them photographed! I think I've been procrastinating because I know I'll have to be my own model, which is a hassle and a little unnerving sometimes. It's so much easier when I can throw something on Madame Coco (mannequin), like skirts and dresses~ Of course there's no better model than little sweet Bailey:


these bloomers are from the same fabric line that the ABC dress is from, Holly Holderman. I think these are probably some of my all time favorite prints! Too bad they discontinue fabric lines after awhile :(

now back to the sewing machine!

too cute!!

Super fun and exciting Omaha mixed media workshop plans!

Can you feel the excitement?!
so we are doing a 'run through' of the mixed media crafty project with the etsy street team girls, and I'm still teetering at the edge of doing the workshop in November/December, or waiting until after Christmas... Who knows, maybe it will be hugely successful and thousands of people will sign up, and connections will be made, and it will all be worth it!
here's my sample house, but now I'm thinking of a zillion different styles this could be done in.

I think my next one will be dark, a little spooky, with vintage images of lovely ladies, with vintage lacy goodness, and lots of pearly buttons...
One of the girls had a great idea to make it like a mini- gingerbread house, except the cool thing would be that it's a permanent decoration you can get out every year. We would use beads and things rather than real candy of course. I love this idea!
If you are a crafty girl in Omaha, please leave a comment if you'd like more information :)

stripey 'gronk'

I made this little stripey friend today:

I thought a little customer of mine would like it, since the fabric matched the dress I made her. (She's got ABC fabric for ears:)

My hubby said it looked like a gronk, which may or may not be the name of some creatures he saw on sesame street years ago. I was surprised he didn't have a Star Trek reference for it. (He's a little obsessed and watches old episodes all the time). It's filled with rice like a bean bag, and was super easy to make. I may do a tutorial for anyone if you'd like to make one for your little ones. It would be fun to add hair, and arms, or hairy arms...
Also, some of you may remember me wishing a happy birthday this summer to my friend whom I didn't know how to reach. Well, she's getting married and she got a hold of me! Yay! Since I've been doing such 'wedding-y' type corsages and ring pillows lately, I thought I'd send her a little surprise in case she needs a little pretty to wear.
ciao girls!